Papa Keeps Bees

(Spoken by Charley at the age of
seven).
Papa keeps bees. The other day he
told me he'd give me a nickle if
I watched
And told him every time they
swarmed,
And I watched and watched and I
thought they never would swarm.
Just about ten o'clock, papa came
out^___
He knows when bees are apt to
swarm^___
Of that I have no doubt,
And they swarmed and swarmed.
Pa said it was no go
For he was there to hive them,
Of that nickle I'd no show.
In the afternoon I got them for I'm
sure he was not near;
And I rung that bell, I rung it well,
I rung it loud and clear and one bee
took me right on the ear.
But, my sake's alive, they went back
in the hive.
When boys with bees ain't posted,
I'm sure they have no show,
But I earned that nickle. Don't you
all think so?

^__Nettie Squire Sutton.

A Book of Poems
Nettie Squire Sutton
(Minneapolis, KS: Messenger Press. n.d.)
Page 50